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tv   The Young Turks With Cenk Uygur  Current  January 22, 2013 4:00pm-5:00pm PST

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and we have to do is a lot of these filmings nowadays will be available on demand. it's a new way they found out how to make money off of these films that wouldn't oversee have an opportunity to get an audience. >> well, brett, thank you very much. you work far too hard and i'm glad you're back from utah. >> i have so much swag for you when you get back, a hoodie, ice toner gloves you can text with, shave gel and these minutes are devine. >> i need a mint badly. brett, thank you so much. someone is always as you know in our war room, so please check us out on line at current.com/thewarroom. check out our exclusive web extras. thank you for joining us here. jennifer's back to really. have a great night.
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>> cenk: welcome to "the young turks. another day another shooting. >> we're covering the country's latest multiple shooting i want on a college campus. >> the first thing i could think of was the shootings on the other school campuses. >> cenk: when is it going to be you? when are we going to do something about it. here's a guy who doesn't want to do a damn thing mitch mcconnell. >> i think the president's nag recall address was disappointing, it was basically a liberal agenda, directed at an america that we still believe is set to right. >> cenk: you would be wrong
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about that, because we just had an election and it turns out we're not center right we voted for the liberal agenda. somebody wake that guy up. really important in sports, internet pioneer and activist committed suicide because the government was coming after him. amazing new information about that. we're going to have his lawyer on the show to talk about it. >> i know this case was weighing heavily on his mind and a significant source of stress for him. >> yes he stole information but it was not worth what they were putting him through. >> cenk: turns out that the government might have another reason because schwartz might be a wikileaks source. it's go time. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> cenk: multiple people have
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been shot at a school in houston, texas. >> shots fired at the loan star college, multiple shots fired at this college and that at least four people have been shot. >> i heard so much like a guy got shot in the legs. i don't know if somebody got killed. >> this government infringes on our second amendment right, we will do everything we can to push back against that. >> the crowd erupted in applause when governor perry even alluded to arming texas teachers. >> we've got to bring everything to the table and protect our children. >> the school is under control. >> an altercation between two individuals. >> one shooter was also shoot. >> we do know that there was a handgun involved. >> they arrived to duel it out with each other. >> there was a maintenance man shot due to friendly crossfire. >> cenk: here we go again another shooting at another
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school. do you know that that's the fifth shooting at a school in 2013? we're still in the first month of 2013! we haven't made it out of january and we've had five school shootings. three people wounded in this one. cmn, along with everyone else carried the tragic news throughout the day and this is what you've been looking at all day. >> we're following breaking developments now. this news out of houston. there are reports of multiple shots fired at a community college, several shots fired at the loan star college on the north side of houston texas. >> this is in north harris county. this is just note of houston texas. the affiliate there reporting that they are hearing now that multiple people were shot regarding this college campus, loan star college. >> cenk: when is it going to be your town, your campus?
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tick-tock, tick-tock. we're going to hear from a witness. i want you to think when is it going to be my son daughter, my mother, my father in a moment like this? >> you called your mother. did you talk to your mom? what did you tell your mom? >> i told my mom that someone was shooting in the building and that i didn't know what was going to happen. >> cenk: when is it ever going to be enough. on this same exact day we find out news that in the house it looks like the republicans are not going to budge an inch on gun control. let's bring in somebody from the house. keith ellison is democratic from minnesota and chairman of the congressional caucus. that you can for joining us. >> pleasure to be here, cenk. >> cenk: let's start talking about gun control. reports are that the republicans are going to say no to the assault weapons ban the high capacity magazine ban and
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background checks and everything else, so how in the world do you react if that's their position? >> i think that's a moral failure, proves that they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of n.r.a. they don't represent the districts they come from, they represent gun manufacturers weapon manufacturers who traffic in death, and this is a stain on them. of course, they can clean themselves up if they step up and do what's right by the american people. you know, who knows whether they'll do that at this point they seem to have dug themselves in, but i can't believe most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with that. of course, you know, it's not most people who dell the outcome, it's a few and those few seem to be intimidating the many, i guess. i like to think they want to do the right thing but lack the courage to do it. i hope that would be the case. i would be disturbed to think most of my colleagues are really on the side of these people who
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traffic in death and who won't do anything to protect america's school kids. >> cenk: well, of course they are. if you weren't sure, senator mcconnell is going to prove that to you in a campaign letter he sent out. dear patriot you and i are literally surrounded. >> cenk: that's senator mcconnell's office sending that out. i guess he's calling you a gun-grabber. how do you respond? >> of course, he's appealing to people's fears misrepresenting the truth. nobody is trying the take a gun away. i'm a gun owner but i have no fear that i'm going to lose my right to own a gun just because we're going to get control over high capacity clips weapons of
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war and do some background checks. gun owners don't agree with mitch mcconn they will. most say look, you know, this thing here is a tool, that's all it is, and if people are going to abuse it and misuse it, let's get rules to stop them from doing that to protect america's school kids and everybody. it's just a brazen falsity and just a sad -- but it only means that we have got to stiffen our resolve. if they're resolved to stop any kind of gun sanity, we've got to have a greater resolve to bring sanity. we've got to organize, be there fashion ourselves into a real political force. >> cenk: so that's really interesting. i want to talk about what form that resolve will take. you've got 85% of the country including 75% of n.r.a. members saying we need background checks
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on whoever buys a gun. the n.r.a. represent manufacturers and the republicans apparently represent the same gun manufacturers. >> right. >> cenk: how do you take an 85% or 58% in favor of high capacity weapon ban and use that for actual change? >> first make it the issue. everybody running in every district all 435 districts in america ought to get a questionnaire from people who want same gun safety rules. are you for the people, or are you for the n.r.a. and gun manufacturers. anybody who doesn't answer the question right ought to be not receive the support of the people who they're seeking the support from. bottom line is we've got to get political, ask the question, we've got to hold people accountable, and the n.r.a. is ahead of us on this. they've got more people in the database than we do. we've got to gather the data,
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we've got to get messages out and be relentless about it. the truth is, we ought to be able to beat them, because what we have on our side is basic sanity and common sense. that what we have on our side is gunshot victims survivors people who have been severely wounded like my dear friend gabrielle giffords. we've got orphans a young man from my district, sammy a high school senior, lost his father in a gun shooting, right now from my office, only a few weeks ago. bottom line is we've got the better case to make and maybe because our case is so much better we think we don't have to organization as much, but we do. >> cenk: right. congressman ellison you've got to take me inside the democratic caucus. on so many issues, you have overwhelming advantage in the polls. 80% of the country is in reality pro choice.
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democrats run from that issue. how do you have 80% of the country on your side and you run from that issue? dems have been running from the gun control issue when on background checks, you've got 85% of the country with you. inside the caucus, do your fellow democrats understand that or are they going to run again away from this issue instead of towards this issue in the next election? >> well, you know, what i think happens is the bulk of the caucus is like let's do something, stand up for a woman's right to choose, stand up for background checks. you get people in close districts, rural districts and they say look, if you push this, this is going to make us lose our seats answered if we lose our seats you're not going to have a chance for a majority. >> cenk: so what, though? >> you asked me what is going on, and i'm telling you. >> cenk: i know, and i appreciate it. i know you're one of the good guise. the reason i jumped in there by saying so what, so ok, they tell you hales if you actually do
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these progressive priorities, we won't have a majority anymore but if you don't do the progressive priorities, what's the point of the majority? >> well, absolutely, you're right. one of the things i loved about president obama's speech yesterday is he did the obvious thing. he stated his values clearly and unapologetically. i think if you actually say what you believe, because a lot of these people who are scared to do the right thing they say they want to do the right thing but they don't, because they fear the n.r.a. and these other groups. bottom line is if you follow your values, and you explain things to people and help them understand that you're for them, the bottom line is you're going to win. that's actually good policy and good politics, but you've got to have some faith. >> it's not just the voters in rural districts. they're scared of the money. the n.r.a.'s going to spend a ton of money against them. >> no doubt about it. no doubt about it, but see his opinion that we had some
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democrats who are very much in favor of the n.r.a. position and they lost, because folks who are for gun sanity came in against them. that happened in a few jurisdictions across this country. the tide is turning, but a few people like michael bloomberg and people who are unafraid to say what you believe in and put the position that most americans want are key to this whole thing, but you can't avoid going door to door knocking, organizing and fashioning yourself into a real political force. i think if we do that, we'll win. >> cenk: one more question. you mentioned the inauguration. mcconnell dame out with a bills czar statement. i want to play that for you are and get your reaction. >> ok. >> i think the president's inaugural address was disappointing in the sense that it was basically a liberal agenda directed at an america
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that we still believe is center right. >> cenk: you know, they're amazing. on what planet are they on. he does the liberal agenda because he's democratic president. i know that part, but how do you react to this wall of obstruction? >> here's the thing. mr. mcconnell said his goal was to make obama a one-term president. he didn't do it. he lost, and so, mcconnell came up short and maybe now he'll see the light and actually put getting america back to work as the top priority, not trying to attack obama. >> cenk: so far, it looks like he's still in a dark, dark tunnel. >> i think he's still in the twilight zone. >> congressman, stay with us, because i want to talk to you about your bill on oil subsidies. it's amazing that it hasn't already passed unanimously. please stay with us. we're going to come right back and talk about that.
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>> at a time when big oil companies are making more main than ever before, we're still giving them $4 billion of your tax dollars in subsidies every year. you remember, congress should be fighting for you not for big financial firms.
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>> i think it's brilliant. (vo) first, news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >> i know this stuff, and i love it. (vo) followed by humor and politics with a west coast edge. bill press and stephanie miller. >> what a way to start the day.
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>> cenk: we're back on "young turks." in a time when people pretend to care on the deficits, the numbers we give outen oh oil subsidies are insane. president obama's been fighting back. he had a significant portion of his weekly address march, 2012 on this very topic. >> at a time big oil companies are making more money than ever before, we're still giving them $4 billion of your tax dollars in subsidies every year. your member of congress should be fighting for you, not for big financial firms or big oil companies. i expect congress to vote on ending these subsidies. when they do, we're going to put every single member of congress object record. they can either stand up for the oil companies or they can stand up for the american people. >> cenk: now, you're going to be shocked. it turns out they stood up for the oil companies. they don't work fours they work
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for their donors. $2.4 billion is the bill from senator menendez that would ever taken away $4 billion is the build up president obama suggested. the reality is at a bare minimum, overall oil subsidies are $10 billion. now, if you include the cost of defending shipping lanes, et cetera the cost actually for oil subsidies winds up being $52 billion a year! now look, even if you took the smallest number, $10 billion a year, why are we giving $10 billion a year to the most profitable companies in the the world? what happened to the free market? they're liars. they never cared about the free market and they certainly don't care about their voters. they care about the guys that got them elected the big donors. that's exactly what the republican party stands for and unfortunately some portion of the democratic party. one guy fighting back, senator ellison.
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he introduced a bill. >> it's called the end polluter welfare act. senator bernie sanders and i have joined up to in produce this bill, and you might be surprised to know, cenk, that we found $110 billion over 10 years worth of subsidies. for example the b.p. oil spill which ruined the gulf, that was -- they didn't foot the bill for that. you and i did. they were able to write that off against their taxes. they get this thing called the masters limited partnership giving them $4.4 billion over the enyears. what that allows them to do is do some tricky stuff with corporate taxation in order to escape corporate taxes. they just go on and on. they claim they're a manufacturing industry they get a tax break for that. there's just a ton of little goodies in there for the most
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profitable industry in the world, and i think that chef ron and exxon mobil don't need my money. i think they're doing fine and i think they ought to be out there in the free market like they claim they want to be. >> cenk: let's talk about that free market. in the first half of 2012, the oil companies just in half a year got over $60 billion worth of profit. >> yikes! >> cenk: $60 billion in profits. >> that's pretty good new that's great. why do they need our money? why do they need subsidies. >> because they want more. >> cenk: it's an inescapable conclusion that your colleagues are bought, corrupt they take money and that is $105 million spent lobbying congress from just the top five oil companies. they pay this to the congressmen and cents and buy them, purchase them. they're institutionally corrupt. in reality, this should be a
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unanimous vote, stop giving our money away to the most profitable companies in the world. >> as our republican friends are just repeating the mantra that the deficit is ruining america, the debt has got to be cut at all costs it's got to be cut now, we he say let's shut some oil subsidies and they're like not so fast. they're also cutting some food starches and social security medicare medicaid and help for college students, and money for medical research, but when it comes to cutting the oh i will companies, the most profitable companies in the world, they don't want to do that. you're right. we've got to, it's an organizing challenge, not enough people know about it. thank you for highlighting it. we've got to broadcast to the american people. i've got to do more to get on you the word. we've got to make it clear. >> one last question about that. if people ran their campaigns on this, i think you would wipe out the republican party on this
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issue alone. if democrats ran against republicans, even in the reddest district of the reddest state hey, you want to give your money away to the biggest corporations in the world for no reason, they're going to say hell no. why don't the democrats run on it. >> i think some of us do. i made it a real key issue in my race so did bernie sanders. our caucus, there are a number of us who found this to be very compelling and keep on talking about it but, you know, quite frankly, cenk, you're one of the few media outlets that gives us a chance to really go into this. if you look at the corporate mainstream press, every other commercial is about b.p. trying to represent itself as some sort of green entity. we're up against a pretty savvy and well-financed crew, and fighting back against them is not easy, but our superior numbers can overcome their
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superior dollars if we organize and get ourselves together, so thank you for highlying this issue. we can go a long way towards solving deficit problems by just cutting these loopholes and give aways for these oil companies and the coal companies and the natural gas companies. you know what? we do way more for them than the green industry. >> cenk: absolutely. >> it's not anywhere close to a level playing field. >> cenk: congressman progressive fighter in congress, we appreciate you joining us on oh "the young turks. >> increase. >> when we come back, a internet activist commits suicide. turns out the government might have been after something else. he might have been a source for wikileaks and that's why they were doing this enormous pressure campaign against him. >> the point is that the government was trying to make an example of him trying to say
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look you vital our extremely overbroad computer laws, and we're going to send you to jail. the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?
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organization. the government went after him like a ton of bricks for what they characterize as taking information he worked not have had, even though he had a contract to take that information with a company. m.i.t. got involved, because he had gone into their computers. he committed suicide because of the prosecution that the government brought. at his funeral his father had strong words including at m.i.t. >> i said why are you destroying my son. he said he wasn't. he was wrong. aaron did not commit suicide but was killed by the government and m.i.t. has betrayed all of its basic principles. >> cenk: strong words. it appears that the government was building an enormous case and aaron could have faced up to 35 years in jail for violating a term of service contract.
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that seems like overkill, right? well, now, some are wondering if there was something else behind it including a republican senator from texas who wrote a letter to the attorney general: >> cenk: why? because aaron apparently asked for freedom information request on bradley manning. now we ever issues, right? now, fascinating discovery afterwards. wikileaks starts sending out tweets: >> cenk: what are they? according to wikileaks twitter site. >> cenk: that's a huge revelation. we don't know if it's true, but
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that's what they're saying. >> cenk: is it possible that the government was actually interested in this? we don't know. one last tweet: >> cenk: now was the government actually going after this and after him for doing the freedom of information request on bradley manning instead of this minor case? that's a great question. let's bring in aaron's lawyer. of course, he had a lawyer to deal with all of this before he passed away. eliot peters is the family attorney. eliot, thank you for joining us on "the young turks. we appreciate it. the government's case against aaron, does it appear that the prosecution was overzealous? >> i can't hear him. >> cenk: oh, boy. let me try again. does it appear that the
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government was overzealous in prosecuting aaron? >> it sure appear that is way to me. i thought the case was not very strong, and i was busy working on defending it. in fact, i spent the afternoon in my office working on the case when aaron died. while, sadly, he was taking his own life, i was busy, and optimistically working on his case, but they really tried to turn what was a small case, a borderline m.i.t. prank with a political statement thrown in there into 13 federal felonies punishable by 35 years in federal prison. >> cenk: now the prosecutors say after the death listen, we were going to do a plea deal and put him away for 13 felony counts and just six months in jail. do you find that to be a sufficient explanation of their zeal? >> it never made sense to me why they were insisting on prison, insisting on felonies.
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aaron was a remarkable person. it was plain upon meeting him and when you learn more about his life, what he had accomplished by the age of 16, let alone by the age of 26. it was an incredible waste and a really mindless prosecution. there was no reason for the severity of the case. >> cenk: did you ask them hey this seems like over reaching by a mile here. we had a violation of a term of service between aaron and a private company. i'm not even sure that's illegal, and you're going to go after him like this. did you ask them that and what was their answer? >> i asked them that question over and over again. i told them that this case shouldn't destroy aaron swartz's life. they insisted it was a serious
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case. i was treat win the case. we had a suppression hearing set for january 25. we had a trial april 1. i didn't think they had a strong case, because there was no computer hacking involved. m.i.t. had an open campus, an open computer network. aaron was authorized to use it, as a user of m.i.t. he was authorized to go on j store and download. you're right when you say they kind of inflated it into a criminal case based on the terms of service contract of the website. >> cenk: now john is writing very interesting things to the attorney general. he said what role if any did the democratic's prior investigations of mr. swartz play in the decision of which crime to say charge him? that's a really interesting question. he seems to be implying that the department had an investigation against aaron on other matters. did they say gig about that to
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you? >> i don't know what the superiors or higher ups at d.o.j. were thinking or what their instructions were to the folks i dealt with. the folks i dealt with were pretty senior in the office in boston and acted like they had decision-making authority in the case. i don't know of any greater plan. in some ways, that's sadder and more pathetic that the federal government chased this very talented and promising young man for no particular reason. >> as you were working on the case, did you know aaron had filed a freedom of information request on bradley manning? >> i didn't know that, i read it like everybody else. >> cenk: did you know about any possible involvement with wikileaks? >> i didn't, and, you know, the wikileaks allegation are posted in a way which is kind of anonymous and vague. if there's information about that, i'd like to know what it
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is. i'm not sure what aaron could have offered wikileaks. he wasn't a government employee. he wasn't someone with access to the kind of information that they typically published but he certainly is a person who was a devotee and believer in access on the internet. >> cenk: let me show you a graphic. on december 27 swartz files a freedom of information request on manage's treatment. just a couple of days after he does the request, they take his computer. january 6, he's arrested. february 11, secret service searches his home and office but not for hardware implicated in the crime being investigated. i find that to be the most curious thing. i wonder if you asked them about that. the secret service goes in, takes things not related to this
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j store case and leaves things that are. it could be simple incompetence or that they were interested in other materials. did you ever ask them why did you take all the wrong stuff? >> i'm having trouble hearing you here, cenk, but i never asked them specifically that question. the activities that led to the investigation at m.i.t. had kind of started innocent and october but the chronology that you refer to i think is correct. when they found the computer in this basement room at m.i.t., they got very interested. m.i.t. very uncharacteristically called law enforcement into the campus and started videotaping what was going on in that room. eventually they chased aaron down massachusetts avenue and he was arrested by a secret service agent and very senior members of the boston u.s. attorneys office were involved in the case even before that. why exactly they got interested
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and why they got so interested and why they pursued it so hard, i don't have any answers but it really is a tragedy. >> cenk: all right eliot peters, aaron swartz's attorney, talk for joining us. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> cenk: when we come back, the 2001 reports saying video game violence actually does lead to real violence in real life. wait until you find out what's actually in the report. we'll tell that when we come back. >> if you don't feel safe, you don't have to go. nothing's happened there in so long.
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fact nearly all died. >> it was four days of terror, seen in these votes from inside, recorded by a hostage and broadcast by algerian t.v. at least 37 of these men were either executed by the terrorists or killed in rescue attempts, three of them american. gordon rowan frederik natashio. >> cenk: almost no one got rescued. let me show you the toll. >> cenk: as far as the militants are concerned, 29 of them were killed and just flee captured alive. their origins are from a number of different countries:
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apparently some of them were speaking english with a north american accent. that's fascinating. i want to bring in an expert, lizie moran a former c.i.a. operative. i want to talk to you about what went wrong here. first of all correct me if i'm wrong. to the naked eye, it appears to be an absolute disaster. >> well, it is an absolute disaster. i would call it a debacle of epic proportions. when i was listening to the reports an saturday night and i heard that the algerian government forces were going to take a break from this hostage rescue, i thought i guess that's good news, because they've completely botched this rescue attempt. so, it's just astounding to me that they went ahead through with it, without any consultation. there are numerous other better
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owe equipped and better-trained forces that would have been appropriate fortunate situation. the british s.a.s., they know that area well, they're great at this. they don't have the history of colonialism in the area, so it's, you know, confounding to me why they decided to do this on their own. >> cenk: that's exactly what i'm trying to figure out because this not waiting for the british, french or americans who have expertise on this seems outrageous. the world understands that the reaction was idiotic if you ask me. he said the algerians are not people who sell themselves out. when the security of the country is at stake, there is no possible discussion. it makes me believe that all this idiot thought about was his own pride we're algerians we'll figure it out, fire at everybody and hope for the best. >> i think that's exactly what's
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going on, a lot of posturing and defending your own turf and saying we don't need the americans for the british and this is not in this kind of hostage situation where americans are being held and multi-nationals, this is not the time to be acting like the big guy especially when you don't have adequately and well-trained forces to back it up. >> cenk: i want to ask you specifics, because lt. general frank condition knee made a comment saying it would have been a precision approach as opposed to a sledgehammer approach in terms of how we would have dealt with it. what is the precision approach? what would we have done? >> i think we would have carefully -- you know, we wouldn't have just gone in guns blazion. if we used delta force or seal team six, they are highly trained and these missions take careful planning. you don't just blunder in in the next 24 hours and try to save
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people. it takes precision and expertise, and knowing the situation that you're going into. >> cenk: i don't know if you know the answer to this, by if you're a hostage in this situation, steve made it out. his wife is on tape. let me show that you first and then we'll talk about it. >> he was there in hiding for about two and a half days, was within two or three feet of some of the terrorists at times some of his friends didn't make it. there were a couple of times when he said he truly did think he was going to die. >> cenk: thank god he didn't. so is there any tips for anybody who finds themselves in a situation like this? >> well, i mean, it sounds like he, you know did the right thing, and trusted his gut instincts in staying in hiding. i mean, obviously, we can see you don't want to wait for the algerians to save you. interestingly, when i was going through c.i.a. training and we
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did have some training if we were taken hostage or interrogated and what really surprised me, i had always thought that, you know, they would train us to be as stoic as possible. in fact, they kind of encouraged us to wine and be as problematic as possible to your hostage takers to show that you are the kind of person who just couldn't take anything so they wouldn't up the ante on any torture or discomfort. >> cenk: that's super interesting. i would not have guessed that at all. one last question about the people who did this apparently the ringleader, how much do we know about this guy, and why did the militants seem to do this in this particular area? >> well, i think it was a carefully-planned attack. it took planning, it took knowing the area, and he's kind of an interesting character. you know, there's the man and
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then the myth. he's actually sort of problematic to purist jihadists because he has in the past shown himself to be largely motivated by money more so than ideological jihaddism so he's kind of a different kind of terrorist, you know, although he claims to be affiliated with al-qaeda and is affiliated with al-qaeda. he's also involved in narc co trafficking and seems to make very pragmatic decisions trying to get money conducting kidnappings and trying to get money. in some ways, it's surprising to me that we ended up with so many casualties in this case, since it was an attack that he's claiming responsibility for. >> cenk: you know -- >> he's like a terrorist, you know he's 1-eyed, like something out of central casting. one thing i think it shows is that this counter terrorism war that we're involved with, i
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mean, it's kind of like the head of the hydra. it was naive of us to ever think that just getting osama bin laden was going to solve our counter terrorism problems. they crop up elsewhere. >> cenk: and the more drone strikes, look at that, the more terrorist activity against us. i wish someday had pointed that out. lindsey, great to talk to you as always really informative really appreciate it. >> good to talk to you. thanks. >> cenk: when we come back, that study that everybody's talking about, oh, my god shows that video games into lead to violence. wait physical you find out what's actually in this study. >> they make billions of dollars selling mindless violence. you said that you said last hour had no impact on children's behavior. it does, and there's study after study that shows it does.
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desmond tutu said a quote that
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is one of my favorite quotes. "we are tied together in a web of humanity. i am a person only through you. i can only be a person only through you." that really resonates me and drives my work. the world is becoming an incredibly connected place. mobile phones are really driving that connection. at kiva, we run an internet marketplace. people can lend to other people for the purpose of starting a small business, going to school or a variety of other good causes. you can go to kiva.org and you can see pictures and profiles of people from over sixty countries all across the world. you can lend them as little as $25. if they are successful, they will pay you back. dear rixi, you're a honduran immagrant. you're coming to the us, you have an idea to start, you know, a women's cosmetics store or a clothing store. you're going to need a lot of things, ya know, to pay the
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rent, permits inventory, advertising, marketing so that adds up quite a bit. you're going to need tens of thousands of dollars to start a small busines. there is ten million-plus people completely left out of the formal finical system. banks don't lend to people like that at all. there is a lot of opportunity to decrease unemployment, provide employment, provide economic opportunity and raise our standard of living by investing in small business. our hearts are an incredibly powerful thing. good technology can help amplify this power and create an incredibly powerful force that can spread to every country in the world. >> cenk: we're back on "the young turks. of course, another day another
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shooting, this time on a campus in texas and all of a sudden, we're still talking about violence in video games and media. how in the world did that happen? well i'll show you how it happened. wane lapierre at a newtown press conference brought it up. >> isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest formal of pornography? in a race to the bottom, video conglomerates compete with one another to shock rye late and offend every standard of civilized society. >> cenk: now this is an awesome joke, because the n.r.a. museum has a section glorifying violence in movies, this is the gun this actor used. isn't it awesome. nonetheless, the media goes
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hook line and sinker into this stuff. on morning joe, they are all talking about this as if it's a real issue. >> the more you focus on video games, the more you let the n.r.a. off the hook to involve this problem you get the guns. i hate those video games. >> yeah, but... >> sometimes it is an easy line. >> i don't want to let people like quentin tarantino off the hook, people like your friends at activision off the hook selling those mindless games that you said last hour had no impact on children's behavior. it does and there's study after study that shows it does. >> cenk: well, we're going to look into those studies. now joining me, anna and tommy christopher who wrote a great article about this. tell us about those studies.
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>> thanks for having me, cenk. i saw that clip and thought what do those studies say. i looked at a bunch of them. the one they specifically cite on that show, they cite all the time, the effect of violent video games on the behavior of children, on aggressive behavior, what it really says is that the effects that they found are short-term and they're short-term aggressive behaviors but found that none of the research really specifies what aggressive behaviors are, that there were all kinds of flaws in the research, sal pells were too small. halfway through it says there were also six other things that are way more important when it comes to aggressive behavior, and one is access to guns. >> cenk: i love that. >> so they're citing -- >> cenk: let me quote that:
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>> they have this study and they're saying look away from the guns and then all of a sudden, there's a gun. i think it's pretty compelling. >> cenk: and tommy, also talking about a 2005 study where they found out they had just talked to 13 german boys and that's the whole study. first of all they're german. >> i know, right? there's a problem right there. that m.r.i. study gets kicked around a lot. that study also, right at the end, the researcher says we found that even violent video games have more positive effects than negative ones. i went into this with an open mind, because i'm a parent, and i come away from it less worried than i was before, saying ok, let's study it, but let's not
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pretend that this is in the same ballpark as access to guns. this is like checking or wiring your house while it's on fire. let's get the guns away. if we worry about the effects of the games, what it's doing to kids, the last thing we want them to have access to are these video games and guns. >> i just wanted to comment on how open tommy was in this piece. he wants more science trying to prove one point or the other. he didn't come into it as oh, let's only focus on gun violence. he wants to focus on the affects of mass media. he came into it open-minded. >> cenk: i hear you guys. thank you all. we'll be right back.
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